Titus County, Texas Cemetery Search - Trivia and Interesting Genealogy Terms

What is a Cenotaph?

A cenotaph is a tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek words kenos, one meaning being "empty" and taphos, "tomb" (i.e. an empty grave).

Several kinds of cenotaphs are commonly found:

(1) Those dedicated to the memories of groups of individuals, such as the war dead of a specific country (for example, the Veteran's monument on the Titus County Courthouse Square).

(2) Those memorializing a person whose body was lost or was buried at sea

(3) Those memorializing a person who was originally buried at a location, but whose body was later moved to a different location.

(4) Those simply memorializing a person of note as a gesture of respect and honor

We encountered two cenotaphs in local cemeteries while building the Titus County Burial Database (there may be more).

Andy Morris is interred in Nevill's Chapel Cemetery, but also has a marker in the Talco Cemetery.

James Dillard is interred in the Nevill's Chapel Cemetery, but also has a marker in Masonic Cemetery.

THE NAME'S THE SAME

AN OLD NAMING PATTERN.....

.....taken from "Ancestors Unlimited"

The first son was named after the father's father.

The second son after the mother's father.

The third son after the father.

The fourth son after the father's eldest brother.

The first daughter after the mother's mother.

The second daughter after the father's mother.

The third daughter after the mother.

The fourth daughter after the mother's eldest sister.

The above naming pattern was usually called the "Dutch" system. The German system was to use a common first name for two or more children, and use middle name as their "every day name".

Some things to consider as you research: "Mrs." used with a woman's name did not always mean she was married. This was used if she had wealth, and was the proper way to address her.

"Mr./Mister" was used only for men of wealth and/or education. A retired man might be listed as a "gentleman".

"Jr." after a name did not always mean that his father had the same name; it might be an uncle or older cousin.

"Stepmother" was sometimes called "mother-in-law" in Colonial times.

"Cousin" could be a relative of any degree, sometimes even a friend.

"Uncle" might refer to a close family friend, not related.

In early wills, "son-in-law" could mean stepson as well as the spouse of a daughter.

"Nephew" sometimes meant grandson or granddaughter, as well as nephew as we use it today.

The word "housekeeper" once meant property owner, and could be used for a male as well as female.

"Domestic" once meant the housewife, not necessarily a servant.

"Inmate", as used in the Pennsylvania Archives, refers to a man living in the home of another person, and not necessarily in an institution. In the same books, "freeman" means a young man, not yet married.

A website visitor sent us the following tomstone inscriptions. We thought you might enjoy them.

Albany, New York:

Harry Edsel Smith

Born 1903--Died 1942.

Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down.

It was.

Thurmont, Maryland:

Here lies an Atheist

all dressed up and no place to go.

East Dalhousie Cemetery , Nova Scotia :

Here lies Ezekial Aikle

Age 102

Only The Good Die Young.

London, England:

Here lies Ann Mann

Who lived an old maid but died an old Mann.

Dec. 8, 1767

Ribbesford, England:

Anna Wallace

The children of Israel wanted bread,

And the Lord sent them manna.

Clark Wallace wanted a wife,

And the Devil sent him Anna.

Ruidoso, New Mexico:

Here lies Johnny Yeast...

Pardon me for not rising.

Uniontown, Pennsylvania:

Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake.

Stepped on the gas instead of the brake.

Silver City, Nevada:

Here lays The Kid.

We planted him raw.

He was quick on the trigger

But slow on the draw.

A lawyer's epitaph in England :

Sir John Strange.

Here lies an honest lawyer, and that is Strange.

John Penny's epitaph in the Wimborne, England , cemetery:

Reader, if cash thou art in want of any,

Dig 6 feet deep and thou wilt find a Penny.

In a cemetery in Hartscombe , England :

On the 22nd of June,

Jonathan Fiddle went out of tune.

Anna Hopewell's grave in Enosburg Falls, Vermont :

Here lies the body of our Anna,

Done to death by a banana.

It wasn't the fruit that laid her low,

But the skin of the thing that made her go.

On an 1880s grave in Nantucket , Massachusetts :

Under the sod and under the trees,

Lies the body of Jonathan Pease.

He is not here, there's only the pod.

Pease shelled out and went to God.

In a cemetery in England :

Remember man, as you walk by,

As you are now, so once was I

As I am now, so shall you be.

Remember this and follow me.

To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone:

To follow you I'll not consent .

Until I know which way you went.